well boys and girls, here it is. This is my first attempt at my overview for Hole #1 of my 2013 tournament season. Please let me know what you think. Good bad or indifferent, like I said this is my first shot at it and I think it worked out ok

It looks pretty solid for basic information obviously you have the choice to get more detailed but that is up to you. Google earth is a pretty good tool to help you with yardages and an overview if you didn't use it already.

Good start. I think that you might also want to put a closeup of the green in the empty space of the page, and then you can put detailed info of the green itself (slopes, ridges, etc) that won't fit on the main page.

What I've been doing for my tournaments is just take the course's yardage book and add a few notes, assuming I've played it before or during a practice round. It makes it easier during the tournament to not have to worry about general strategy because I've basically already planned it out. All I have to do is take my baseline and adjust for conditions. (That is, if I don't lose my head and abandon the plan like I did last time. Oops!) :)

Good start. I think that you might also want to put a closeup of the green in the empty space of the page, and then you can put detailed info of the green itself (slopes, ridges, etc) that won't fit on the main page.

What I've been doing for my tournaments is just take the course's yardage book and add a few notes, assuming I've played it before or during a practice round. It makes it easier during the tournament to not have to worry about general strategy because I've basically already planned it out. All I have to do is take my baseline and adjust for conditions. (That is, if I don't lose my head and abandon the plan like I did last time. Oops!) :)

I'm going to be runnig a 2 page system. The first page or cover if you will I am going to have the name of the course. I'll flip it open and there will be a green with a grid and slope points and notes on "page 1" then the hole overview (like the one pictured) on the page below it. Flip that one up and it will be Green #2 on top and hole 2 over view on bottom etc...

I think it's a waste of time because the charts you are making have virtually no use during play......Hell, you are a +1, you should know better. LOL

You might as well pace from a sprinkler to calculate center of the green yardage....and figure from there depending on the pin position. Or better yet.....shoot the pin with a laser to get an accurate yardage to the pin in an instant.

Your map printed from the internet has virtually no value whatsoever. I'd expect this kind of post from a beginner......not a player with a plus HC.

In my opinion, you should consider devoting time where you're likely to miss off the tee. You don't need much information about the areas there are already yardage markers, they already give you a good estimation of distance. If you hit a driver and a short iron from the fairway, you'll know what club to hit to center green 99% of the time inside 150, especially on holes you've played.

-If you duck hook one into the woods and are laying up to the end of the fairway, which is when you'd need the yardage the most, there are no markers back there. In competition, plan on being somewhere you've never been before due to Murphy's Law.

-Pay attention to where they put the tees each day, like swapping pins some greenskeepers move the tee boxes around, sometimes significantly. You could measure everything on the hole from the absolute tips and pace off the difference.

-You'll want to know the spots the fairway ends, note spots with trouble you can't spot off the tee like hidden bunkers, slopes, uneven lies, mounds, rough. Possibly even note drainage areas and spots where standing water is a problem, since they can play very sticky and wreck an attempt to run the ball on. Plus spots like that can result in a mud ball, so it's wise to play away from them or hit a shot that is less inclined to pick up mud.

-Note areas before and after the green, as well as right and left to determine what sort of miss would hurt the least. Much of the trouble that really gets you isn't obvious from the fairway/tee, it's below the green or hidden by swales and the like.

-Elevation changes are worth noting, especially in the landing area of your tee shot or a differently elevated green. They can be deceiving to you when you're on the course.

-Note OB and water hazards so you know not to get pointless penalty strokes. I've hit into stuff you couldn't see from the tee or that didn't occur to me to be OB, it's costly.

-Note the slopes and tiers on the green, for planning your short game shots. Especially note if a certain pin position is impossible to reach safely or if it's an easy birdie.

-If you are the sort of golfer who thinks he can hit over/under/around/through trees, note the treeline on both sides, how much space you have for the ball to climb as well as on the other side.

-Better be damn accurate when measuring water carries. And don't ever do anything stupid like playing too small a margin of error on these shots.

-Bunkers and collection areas aren't the worst spot on some holes. Look at Augusta, one of the par 5s I believe #15 or 16. Many players hit their second with enough carry to clear the green and stop behind it, making an easy pitch and putt for birdie. It would take a big hook with a 3 wood that checks up in order to get close to the far left pin, which is a near impossible shot. Sometimes you can't stop the ball and it's better to be in a bunker than in the water. Make notes of situations like these, providing they're wisely thought out.

-Consider noting where in the tee box to tee up, if one side gives you a better angle for your planned shot. Other good notes include if you need to target one side of the fairway to get an angle, or if there's visual trickery on the tee box that can make your target seem bigger or smaller than it is. Extra deep greens need attention, since the pin location could need any of 3-4 clubs at times to get close.

-Note any special rules information; if you are on a hole with waste areas or something, or casual water which has special rules to apply to the situation, it might be worth noting. Brandt Snedeker was in a playoff last year, on a par 3. Totally sailed a green but got a free drop from the stands. His caddie probably knew about that, gave him plenty of club on purpose, and knew if he missed long it'd get a good lie and position to par the hole. Or Seve famously driving a ball into a parking lot on purpose.

Maybe it's overkill for casual rounds, but for competition it's smart to make sure everything's there on the paper if you don't have a caddy.

I think it's a waste of time because the charts you are making have virtually no use during play......Hell, you are a +1, you should know better. LOL

You might as well pace from a sprinkler to calculate center of the green yardage....and figure from there depending on the pin position. Or better yet.....shoot the pin with a laser to get an accurate yardage to the pin in an instant.

Your map printed from the internet has virtually no value whatsoever. I'd expect this kind of post from a beginner......not a player with a plus HC.

Gee, no wonder the pros don't use yardage books. They are just worthless. NOT!

Don't listen to this terrible advice op.

Lucius advice is wonderful and almost too much information :) the map of the hole doesn't have do be a perfect representation of the hole... but the distances marked have to be. The map you've made looks good, but plenty more could be added. Even the simplest map of a hole can be helpful during a round.

Yardage books are useful, but the point Buckeye was making is the pro's use lasers and pace yardages off, they don't use Google Earth.

Google Earth isn't designed to be accurate enough to calculate the yardages a pro or + handicap golfer will need. Go to the pro's practice days and you'll see caddies pacing yardages and using laser to update their yardage books.

What the OP is doing might be okay for a mid - high handicapper but at the skill level of a +1 he needs something that's more accurate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by onephenom

Gee, no wonder the pros don't use yardage books. They are just worthless. NOT!

Don't listen to this terrible advice op.

Lucius advice is wonderful and almost too much information :) the map of the hole doesn't have do be a perfect representation of the hole... but the distances marked have to be. The map you've made looks good, but plenty more could be added. Even the simplest map of a hole can be helpful during a round.

My problem with yardage books is that they slow you down. There is no way that a yardage book is as fast as a laser or GPS, so in that respect it is a waste. I get tired of watching pro caddies getting to the ball, pulling out the book, finding the nearest point they have measured (those books are all made using top of the line laser rangefinders during and before practice rounds), then still pacing from the landmark to the ball. My buddies would wake me up with a 9I upside the head if I started screwing around like that.

If you don't want to, or aren't allowed to use a device, most courses are so well marked these days that it's about as fast to simply get your numbers on the run. The only possible use I can see for a homemade book is, as Lucius said, for stray shots that are off the beaten track. Even my home muni has fairway markers every 25 yards starting at 200 yards out on par 4 holes, and 250 yards on par 5's, and even some to give yardages to key hazards, so a yardage book would be redundant when figuring a shot from the normal areas of a hole. The farther you stray from those "normal" areas the more likely you are to need additional information.

The other downside, is that you need one for every course you play - they don't transfer. I guess I just don't get it. I bought one at a course many years ago, and it ended up being a waste of money. I looked at it once during the entire round, because the course was so well marked that the book was unnecessary. I never bothered again. I guess if you want something to do when you can't play, then have at it, but I can't really see that it's much use.

What I'd find more useful if I couldn't use my Garmin GPS is just a few notes, like jotting down that it's one club more to get up the hill to the 4th green, or noting that there is a hidden bunker on on the left side of the fairway 280 yards from the back tee. Information for approach shots is generally well marked, so I don't see the need.

If this is intended to show nothing more than format, I guess it's a start. If it's intended to show content, then I see absolutely nothing on this example that provides a good player with much in the way of value.

Heck, you don't even include distances to and carries for the bunkers on the left. Do you really care that it's a stinkin' 145 carry to the fairway?

Sorry but in order to be useful, you'll need a lot more info than that, and to Buckeye's point, it needs to be DEAD accurate.

Yardage books are useful, but the point Buckeye was making is the pro's use lasers and pace yardages off, they don't use Google Earth.

Google Earth isn't designed to be accurate enough to calculate the yardages a pro or + handicap golfer will need. Go to the pro's practice days and you'll see caddies pacing yardages and using laser to update their yardage books.

What the OP is doing might be okay for a mid - high handicapper but at the skill level of a +1 he needs something that's more accurate.

It doesn't bother me he disagrees... that's fine. It should be more accurate... he never said that. Just said the map he made was useless. Didn't offer any advice to make it better, just sarcastically talked to down to the OP. Pretty unnecessary to do for someone asking for some help.

It doesn't bother me he disagrees... that's fine. It should be more accurate... he never said that. Just said the map he made was useless. Didn't offer any advice to make it better, just sarcastically talked to down to the OP. Pretty unnecessary to do for someone asking for some help.

He wasn't really talking down to him, just being brutally honest. (I took it as a peer-to-peer thing since they are both scratch) And he's right. I didn't realize that the OP was a +1 when I made my first post, and I agree with Buckeye that he has to be really careful using Google Earth for precise distances at that skill level.

What I would do is use Google Earth to help draw the holes on the page, and that's it, then go and get all of the distances at the course with a laser.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourputt

My problem with yardage books is that they slow you down. There is no way that a yardage book is as fast as a laser or GPS, so in that respect it is a waste. I get tired of watching pro caddies getting to the ball, pulling out the book, finding the nearest point they have measured (those books are all made using top of the line laser rangefinders during and before practice rounds), then still pacing from the landmark to the ball. My buddies would wake me up with a 9I upside the head if I started screwing around like that.

If you don't want to, or aren't allowed to use a device, most courses are so well marked these days that it's about as fast to simply get your numbers on the run. The only possible use I can see for a homemade book is, as Lucius said, for stray shots that are off the beaten track. Even my home muni has fairway markers every 25 yards starting at 200 yards out on par 4 holes, and 250 yards on par 5's, and even some to give yardages to key hazards, so a yardage book would be redundant when figuring a shot from the normal areas of a hole. The farther you stray from those "normal" areas the more likely you are to need additional information.

The other downside, is that you need one for every course you play - they don't transfer. I guess I just don't get it. I bought one at a course many years ago, and it ended up being a waste of money. I looked at it once during the entire round, because the course was so well marked that the book was unnecessary. I never bothered again. I guess if you want something to do when you can't play, then have at it, but I can't really see that it's much use.

What I'd find more useful if I couldn't use my Garmin GPS is just a few notes, like jotting down that it's one club more to get up the hill to the 4th green, or noting that there is a hidden bunker on on the left side of the fairway 280 yards from the back tee. Information for approach shots is generally well marked, so I don't see the need.

I somewhat disagree here. If you are familiar with your book, then they aren't any slower than laser or GPS. If anything, personally, I find the opposite to be true. I'm not comfortable with a bulky machine attached to my hip while I play, but a yardage book slides right into my pocket. There's a lot of fumbling and bumbling in and out of the cart or my bag when I try to use my phones GPS.

But yardage books are definitely not something I would do for all courses I play, because, like you said, they don't transfer. That's an awful lot of work to try and make them all up for all of your courses.

What I have been doing for my tournaments is start with the courses yardage book, and then add the notes just like you mentioned in your last paragraph.

I've found that I prefer the yardage book (coupled with the pin sheet) because that gives me distance to the front, and then how far to the pin, and how much room behind the pin. Just shooting the pin doesn't really tell me where on the green it is. My notes will also help me remember if I am better off a bit short, long, left or right of the pin. Another piece of info a laser or GPS isn't giving me.

I am in the same boat as the OP, it is cold and I need to get my fix in so I am also making a yardage book, I am using Google earth and I will take a gps/ rangefinder with me when the snow melts to see how accurate the yardages are. To say it slows the round down is ludicrous, how is looking at a yardage book slower than using a rangefinder? I have used both a rangefinder and a gps and I found using them both bulky and kinda of a pain to pull out on every hole. But anyways here is how the first hole of the yardage book i made looks. Also any tips on how to improve it are greatly appreciated